• Takis Zenetos’s “Electronic Urbanism” as Adaptation to Social Structure: Teleactivities as Actor of Change

    Author(s):
    Marianna Charitonidou (see profile)
    Date:
    2023
    Item Type:
    Conference paper
    Conf. Title:
    Optimistic Suburbia 2 – International Conference Middle-Class Mass Housing Complexes. OPTIMISTIC SUBURBIA 4
    Conf. Org.:
    ISCTE-IUL
    Conf. Loc.:
    Lisbon
    Conf. Date:
    16-19 June 2021
    Permanent URL:
    https://doi.org/10.17613/as2q-sy02
    Abstract:
    Takis Zenetos was enthusiastic about the idea of working from home and believed that both architecture and urban planning should be reshaped in order to respond to this. He supported the design of special public spaces in residential units aiming to accommodate the inhabitants during working hours. This paper argues that Zenetos’s design for “Electronic Urbanism” was more prophetic and more pragmatic than his peers such as Archigram and Constant Nieuwenhuys. Despite the fact that they shared an optimism towards technological developments and megastructure a main difference between Zenetos’s view and the perspectives of his peers is his rejection of a generalised enthusiasm concerning increasing mobility of people. In opposition with Archigram Zenetos insisted in minimizing citizens’ mobility and supported the replacement of daily transport with the use advanced information technologies using terms such as “tele-activity”. Zenetos was convinced that “Electronic Urbanism” would help citizens save the time that they normally used to commute to work and would allow them to spend this time on more creative activities at or near their homes. The main interest of “Electronic Urbanism” lies in the fact that it not only constitutes an artistic contribution to experimental architecture but is also characterized by a new social vision promising to resynchronize practices of daily life. An aspect that is also examined is the relationship of Zenetos’s ideas and those of the so-called Metabolists in the 1960s in Japan including Kenzo Tange’s conception of megastructures. Zenetos’s thought is very topical considering the ongoing debates about the advanced information society especially regarding the social concerns of surveillance governance and sovereignty within the context of Big Data. His conception of “tele-activities” provides a fertile terrain for reflecting on potential implications and insights concerning home-office conditions not only within the context of the current
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    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 months ago
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